Jackson Jambalaya

That's one in a row.

As with crime, the “rankings” Bill speaks of improve drastically in areas not controlled by his Democrat party. Hypothetically, if all MS blue cities residents moved to blue states, Mississippi’s “rankings” would improve dramatically.

White elitist Democrats like old Bill (that won’t live in the high crime areas their party controls) have the greatest scam going; create the problems with Democrat policies, then convince the poor uneducated, and the indoctrinated percentages of your base that not having more Democrat policies is the reason the “national rankings” are at or near the bottom.

Keep taking the bait.

I’m sure Wallethub hires all the top economists to study things. Haha. That Mr. Crawford would use data from Wallethub to counter positive education rankings is a very Democrat thing to do.
If Democrats were running state government and happened to have those rankings in education they’d have weekly parades. Mississippi Today and Mr. Crawford can’t stand too many positive things to happen in this state without reminding the people of something that’s not right.

If The Speakuh thinks CON law should be altered, why the hell not do something about it other than float it to a civic club lunch audience? Will the Red Hat Club be next? Is it no longer possible that bills can originate in The House with his guidance. Hell, do it. It's been needed for decades. Get off your self-important 'lecture tour'.

By the way, the idea that there needs to be an effort to "challenge convention wisdom" might relate to an unneeded convention center downtown. Conventional Wisdom, on the other hand, is entirely different.

Mister Speakuh seems to be setting a pattern of 'leading by speaking to special interest groups' instead of leading by speaking to assembled members of the House.

“He suggested certificate-of-need (CON) laws should be altered to make it easier to get services to underserved rural areas.”

How will a change in CON laws help underserved areas, when hospitals in rural communities are struggling to stay in operation, now?

The Speaker makes great talks about his "Living" in a rural area - West MS. Heard him on the radio just this week doing the same, kinda like he did at the Stennis luncheon Crawford mentions.

But the Speaker has not been "living" in West for quite some time now, having been like many of his Democrat collegues in the Legislature, "Claiming" a residence that is within the district he is to represent while actually living somewhere else.

Speaker White kinda admitted to living in Madison County previously claiming he did so just so his son could go to school and play football at a 'better' school; "better" being in the measurment of its football team, not necessarily anything about its educational provisions. But now son has graduated and has spent the last couple of years playing football at Southern, SMTTT as Ricky Mathews said during the interview, but Speaker White hasn't moved back home --- yet.

Easy to talk about one's rural roots and lifestyle, and the need to improve it - problem is, White evidently takes the easy way out and moves everything --- everything, that is, except his elected position.

Cutting the income tax will do nothing as far as keeping our young people here or attracting others to move here. It takes money to do the things that may move this state off the bottom. If income taxes are cut other taxes will have to be increased. Don’t fall for the bait and switch. For all of us who are retired and no longer pay income taxes we will be subject to a tax increase, through higher property and sales taxes. Take a look at those taxes in Florida and Tennessee for example. Tater was the first to propose the income tax cut and as with all things politicians do, it is a campaign slogan for their next election.
Mississippi has many needs and reductions to the funds to address them will never move the state of the bottom of so many categories. The state needs leaders who are willing to be innovative and not worried about their reelection.

White’s son has been at USM for 1 semester, FWIW. As in since January

Being from a rural background is a smokescreen. Nobody in Mississippi is from
an uptown background. West is a suburb of Possumneck and Madison is a suburb of Canton. None of the four are uptown like Kosciusko and Clinton. Now Iuka? That's rural. And Shaw.

I had no idea that Mississippi is ranked 30th in education. That is huge news. We need more reporting on that.

As soon as the liberal media finds the best way to link Mississippi education rank improvement as proof that Democratic leadership is the reason for the climb, you'll see it splashed across all headlines, both National and State related.